Forget Six-Pack Abs

Healthy abdominal muscles are strong - not hard.
Abdominal skin differs from much of the skin covering the rest of the body. It has a subcutaneous tissue that loves to hoard fat. It can store up to several inches. Those fat-free torsos you see in advertisements are possible for less than 10 percent of the population. You have to have really thin skin to show muscle and this takes more than diligent exercise; it takes the right genetics. 
Instead of obsessing about fat, we'd do better to focus deeper. Right under the skin, a sturdy wall of four paired muscles stretches over our internal organs. On the surface, the straplike rectus abdominus extends along the front, from pubic bone to sternum. On either side, a thin but powerful muscle, called the external oblique, courses diagonally from the ribs to the rectus, forming a "V" when viewed from the front. Running perpendicular to the external obliques, the internal obliques lie just below. These two pairs of muscles work in concert, rotating the trunk and flexing it diagonally. The innermost layer of abdominal muscle, the transversus, runs horizontally, wrapping the torso like a corset. You flex this muscle to pull in your belly. The sinewy, three-ply sheath formed by the transversus and the obliques provides a strong, expandable support; it protects the viscera and provides compression that aids elimination and a housing flexible enough for diaphragmatic breathing.

Cobra Pushup With Roll
Squeeze a foam roll between your thighs and lay flat on your belly, tucking your tailbone toward the mat. Place your hands under your shoulders, with elbows up, and push the tops of your feet into the floor. Next, inhale and push up into Cobra, opening your chest and pulling your rib cage forward. Be sure to keep your shoulders down. Exhale and release, lowering yourself slowly and carefully, one set of ribs at a time. Repeat three times.
Fire Breathing - AgniSara Breath 
(Agni is fire in Sanskrit, this pranayama technique stirs up internal heat in the body)

1. Stand erect with your legs fairly apart and hands hanging by the sides.
2. Bend your trunk forward and bend your knees slightly.
3. Place your palms on the corresponding knees.
4. Exhale completely.
5. As in Uddiyana Bandha, retain your breath.
6. Blow out your stomach without inhaling.
7. Keep this for about 2 seconds.
8. Pull in your stomach.
9. Pull in and blow out your stomach 4-6 times.
10. Inhale.
11. Repeat steps 4-10 four to five times.

Koshas

1. Physical Body
In Sanskrit, the physical body is known as the Annamaya Kosha, or food sheath. This visible dense body is born, grows, decays and then dies, the components returning to earth and the food cycle. The aim of yoga is to bring the physical body under the conscious control of the mind. Both can then be used for higher spiritual pursuits. Proper care of the physical body is necessary if any work is to be done.

2. Astral Body
Every living being has an Astral Body This is connected to the physical body by a subtle thread along which vital currents pass. When this cord is cut, the Astral Body departs and the body dies. It is composed of three layers:
A. Pranic Sheath: More subtle than the food sheath, but similar in form, it is often spoken of as etheric double. It is made up of 72,000 nadis or astral tubes, through which prana or vital energy flows.
B. Mental Sheath: Comprising of automatic mind, as well as instinctive and subconscious portions, this is where we carry on the automatic functions of our daily lives. It is very jumpy by nature, as it is constantly bombarded by input from the five senses.
C. Intellectual Sheath: The intellect controls and guides the automatic mind. Discrimination and decision making take place here and pass down to the more gross sheaths.

3. Causal Body
Called the Karana Sharira in Sanskrit, the Causal Body is also known as the Seed Body. Just as a seed or a bulb contains within itself an exact blueprint of the plant it will produce, so does the Causal Body stores subtle impressions in the form of Karma. These subtle impressions control the formation and growth of the other two bodies, and determine every aspect of the next birth. At the time of death, both the the Causal and Astral Bodies (which remain together) separate from the physical body.

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center

As we walk in through this door, the first thing we realize that we are not humans having a spiritual experience, but we are souls having a human experience.

Having said this, what am I going to talk about today? Well, I am going to talk about yoga.  But specifically, about exploring the mind-body connection.  We all hear this over and over again, about yoga being the connection of mind and body. When you are heading into new territory, it is helpful to have a map. Hiking in Yosemite, you need a topography map showing the mountainous terrain. In New York City, you need to know the city blocks and major sites to orient yourself; otherwise you have to depend on the compassion and mercy of New Yorkers, which I assume is in short supply these days. What if such a roadmap exists within yoga? As it turns out, our ancestors, the yogic sages, have indeed charted out such a landscape of the self in the Upanishads, about 3000 years ago.

The koshas, "layers" or "sheaths," make up one such map, charted by yogic sages some 3000 years ago. Written about in these ancient texts, the Upanishads, the kosha model navigates an inner journey—starting from the periphery of the body and moving towards the core of the self: the embodied soul. While this may sound esoteric, the koshas are both a practical and profound contemplative tool that can help you deepen your yoga practice and the quality of your participation in life.

According to the map of the koshas, we are composed of five layers, sheaths, or bodies. Like Russian dolls, each metaphorical "body" is contained within the next: annamaya kosha—the physical body; pranamaya kosha—the breath or life-force body; manomaya kosha—the mental body; vijanamaya kosha—the wisdom body; and anandamaya kosha—the bliss body. This is not a literal anatomical model of the layers of the body, although you can find physiological parallels to the koshas, like the nervous system and the "mental" body. As a metaphor, the koshas help describe what it feels like to do yoga from the inside—the process of aligning what in contemporary language we often call "mind, body, and spirit" or "mind-body connection."

Like a tapestry, the koshas are interwoven layers. You have no doubt experienced this in your own body: When you are tense or strained, your breath becomes shallow, your mind becomes easily agitated, and wisdom and joy seem far away. When you are filled with joy, these feelings permeate your entire being. Separating the strands of the tapestry is a way to look at how your whole being can become integrated or in discord. The kosha map is not a rigid truth but a template for exploring the mystery of being alive. Let's bring the koshas to life now by seeing how this map applies to hatha yoga practice grounded in asana by navigating the Koshas

The first layer of the koshas is always where you begin your journey. It situates you in the present moment of your body like the arrow on a map that says "you are here." Take one of your hands and connect with a chunk of your thigh, arm, or belly. You are touching the annamaya kosha—your physical self—the first layer of skin, muscle tissue, bones, and organs. The annamaya kosha is often referred to as the "gross" body (sthula-sharira)—the tangible part of yourself that you can mostly see, touch, and feel. Annamaya means "food body," and there are long passages in the Upanishads drilling in this realization that we are composed of food from the earth, a beneficial contemplation that helps you pay attention to what you feed your first kosha. Like having good fertilizer for your top soil, all of the layers of yourself will benefit from a healthy, balanced diet. Just eat a pint of icecream, too much alcohol or a bag of potato chips and watch the changes in your breath and mental body.

In the beginning of your yoga practice, a lot of time is spent exploring your physical body. The first step is becoming aware of the entire field of your body from head to toe and all the little crevices that are highlighted through yoga postures, such as the arches of your feet and the side ribs. Learning how to align your joints, bones, and spine, engage your muscles, sense your skin, and even become aware of what is happening to your organs. If you want to deepen your breath or affect your state of mind, you have to honor and pass through the gateway of the physical body.

The next three layers of the self are considered to be part of the subtle body or suksma-sharira, as they are unseen and cannot be tangibly grasped. They can, however, be felt and they have a profound effect on the physical body: You would perish if your pranamaya kosha, or breath body, ceased to function. To experience the pranamaya kosha, we practice various techniques here in our studio: ujjayi breath, kapalbhati, nadi shodhana.  Pranayama is designed to increase and cultivate the quality of the pranic body. When you start to know where you are in your physical body through the alignment of the poses, you will have more freedom to explore the flow of your breath. By shifting to deep, slow, and rhythmic breathing in your yoga practice, you are becoming conscious of and affecting this second kosha. The coordination of your inhalation and exhalation with the movements of your physical body, is best experienced in Sun Salutations. We marry breath sheath with the food sheath.

This third layer, the manomaya kosha, corresponds to your nervous system and expresses itself as waves of thought or awareness. How active this third layer is becomes apparent within the stillness of a yoga pose: Try resting your eyes on a point and concentrating on the sensation of your breath rising and falling in your chest. See how long it takes before a thought-wave, or vritti, passes by.  Often our minds are as overloaded as 680 or 580 freeway, constricting the flow of your yoga practice. If your mind is obsessed or is going in different directions, your breath becomes erratic and your sense of physical ease and balance wavers. Your breath can serve as a bridge between your body and mind. Expanded breath = Expanded mind = A sense of openness in the body. For most of us, our yoga practice is devoted to learning how to get the flow of these first three layers happening.

It’s the last 2 koshas that I would like to draw your citta or awareness towards. The vijanamaya kosha is the intelligence or wisdom body and refers to the reflective aspects of our consciousness when we experience a deeper insight into ourselves and the world. As the first three layers begin to syncopate in your yoga practice, a different feeling arises as your wisdom body comes alive. All of a sudden you are not just trying to survive or breathe in a pose, but a shift inside you occurs, as if the spirit of the pose starts to emerge. In Tree Pose, you may begin to feel a steady strength and inner power. In a backbend, it may feel like the sky opens up inside your heart. You are still in the fourth layer of your body when a subjective witness observes these shifts—that inner voice that says, "That feels good!"

When the witness of experience dissolves into the experience of the moment, the final layer, anandamaya kosha, the core of bliss begins to shine through. There is a feeling of wholeness and integration, a sense of arriving at your destination, even if you are only there for a moment. It is also the space where creativity explodes. This is the radiant core where unconditional love and communion with life arises. This is not a VIP-only area. Throughout your life, you have accessed this part of yourself. Children go there regularly, as do musicians and dancers. And so do beginning yoga students. It’s the reason someone jumps off a bridge to save a drowning man, without regard to the self, or goes through a burning building to save a kitten. You are in love with life itself and in touch with your most compassionate self. Because in giving freely, without ANY expectation, one finds freedom from the self. It’s the ultimate freedom.

These are some of the realizations that I have arrived at in my yoga journey. Whether we touch this bliss body every day or in every practice is not the point of the journey. Sometimes we make it through the gates or to the top of the trail, sometimes not. Sometimes we find ourselves more complex and difficult to unravel and other days we shift easily through the layers of ourselves. Just keep the center in your inner horizon.